Moderna will be added to the Nasdaq-100 before the U.S. stock market opens at 21:30 Beijing time on Oct. 9, replacing Warner Bros. Discovery. The index change was announced on Oct. 1, according to BlockBeats.
From the U.S. market close on Oct. 1, before the announcement, to the latest close on Oct. 8, MRNA rose from $188.94 to $197, for a cumulative gain of about 4.27%.
Index inclusion and company developments
Moderna is a U.S. biotechnology company that develops vaccines and therapeutics using mRNA technology. Its research covers infectious diseases, cancer and rare diseases.
Outside its vaccine business, the company and Merck reported positive Phase 3 results in August for a personalized mRNA cancer therapy. In adjuvant melanoma treatment, the therapy met the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival. The source described that result as a main catalyst for the stock.
Vaccine-stock attention and the Russia-related event
A suspected pneumonic plague incident in Russia recently also drew attention to vaccine stocks, and Moderna rose about 6.95% on Oct. 5.
Still, based on the latest public information, the pathogen involved had not been confirmed by the World Health Organization. Russian authorities said tests on contacts did not find plague, while the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said there was no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
On-chain contract activity and top long positions
TradingBeats data showed MRNA on-chain contracts at $196.45, up about 0.56% over 24 hours. Open interest stood at about 15,600 contracts, with notional value of roughly $3.059 million. Twenty-four-hour volume was about 43,500 contracts, worth around $8.521 million.
The two largest long holders together held about $448,500 in long positions, with floating profit of about $61,500.
- The largest long held about $242,500 in longs. The position used 3x leverage and covered 1,233.05 contracts, with an average entry price of $175.78, floating profit of about $25,800, return of about 35.7%, and liquidation price of $124.15. The address was listed as 0x9a37….
- The second-largest long held about $205,900 in longs. The position used 10x leverage and covered 1,046.98 contracts, with an average entry price of $162.58, floating profit of about $35,700, return of about 209.8%, and liquidation price of $154.69. The address was listed as 0x599d….
The second-largest long holder also placed a market take-profit trigger at $350 covering the entire current position, about 77.9% above the current price.